Rondels & Bullseyes

Like sheet glass, glass rondels are usually used to make small craft objects or to become part of a larger scale piece of artwork. Glass rondels may be foiled or leaded into larger structures to add shards, swathes, and blooms or color to a larger whole. Since rondels are made by hand there can be variances in thickness, size, and roundness.Spun RondelsSpun rondels are created by a single gather of glass that is shaped by a footing tool. They are solid color, and when compared to sheet glass, often a shade darker in color density. There is often a subtle ridge-like appearance on the punty side and the thickness is greater than that of a blown rondel. They can be easily copper foiled or leaded and because they can be made with a minimum of labor they are often an attractive and economical option. Spun rondels from KOG can only be made in sizes that range from 2” to 4”. There is a standard color palette from which to choose. Other colors are available with a minimum order of 20 rondels per color and dependent upon availability of sheet glass cullet.Blown Rondels (single color and specialty)A blown rondel can be either solid color if on the smaller side, or more commonly, flashed with a gather of color over a gather of clear. More labor intensive, air is mouth blown into a blow pipe. This creates a bubble. From the opposite side another gaffer punties up, then breaks the gather from the blow pipe. It is now attached to the pontil rod and there is a hole at the broken off end. Depending on the size of the rondel, the gaffer will several times move from the glory hole to the bench, keeping the glass hot and pliable. Slowly with his jacks he opens the hole further and further until the rondel is properly shaped.A flashed/ blown rondel, when compared to sheet glass, is a shade lighter in color density. Color density can be manipulated to a certain degree. The surface of the blown rondel is very smooth and the thickness is less than that of a spun rondel. Flashed rondels can be made in sizes that range from 3” to 20” and base color options are the same as those for spun rondels. Within the Blown rondel category KOG offers several specialty technique options. They include single frit, multi frit, optic, hot wrap, wacky wrap, pinwheel, murrini, frit swirl, feathered, and artist’s choice, which are often indescribable, but a whole lot of lovely.Sometimes a rondel will be trimmed so that the rounded outer parts can be used for a project; bulls eyes are the center part of a rondel, what remains after the rondel has been trimmed.All of the items at Kokomo Opalescent Glass are handmade with pride in Indiana, USA; because they are handmade there may be some variations from the photos.